To mark the Day of the Endangered Lawyer, the Law Society of England and Wales issued a press release on 24 January honouring legal professionals who are targeted for upholding the rule of law and defending a strong justice system.
The Law Society has published its annual intervention tracker which shows that the Society took 40 actions relating to 17 countries in 2023. Most of these actions were initiated by concerns relating to arbitrary arrest or detention (58%) followed by harassment, threats and violence (27%).
Law Society president Nick Emmerson said: “Across the world, lawyers continue to face harassment, surveillance, detention, torture, enforced disappearance and arbitrary arrest and conviction...
We use this day to draw attention to the plight faced by countless lawyers across the globe, as they fight for their right to freely exercise their profession and uphold the rule of law.
“Our intervention tracker reflects where the Law Society has acted on behalf of lawyers and human rights defenders in 2023. The intervention tracker is part of our Lawyers at Risk programme to support those who are prevented from carrying out their professional duties. See: https://www.lawsociety.org.uk/campaigns/international-rule-of-law/whats-changing/lawyers-at-risk.
A recent example comes from Amnesty International on 25 January 2024: On 31 October 2023, human rights lawyer, Hoda Abdelmoniem, was due to be released after serving her unjust five-year prison sentence stemming solely from the exercise of her human rights. Instead, the Supreme State Security Prosecution (SSSP) ordered her pretrial detention pending investigations into similar bogus terrorism-related charges in a separate case No. 730 of 2020. During a rare visit to 10th of Ramadan prison on 4 January, her family learned that her health continues to deteriorate and that she developed an ear infection, affecting her balance and sight. She must be immediately and unconditionally released. [see also: https://humanrightsdefenders.blog/2020/11/29/2020-award-of-european-bars-associations-ccbe-goes-to-seven-egyptian-lawyers-who-are-in-prison/]
The Geneva newspaper le Temps [https://www.letemps.ch/monde/moyenorient/chaque-minuscule-resultat-est-une-victoire-immense-en-iran-les-avocats-face-au-simulacre-de-justice] carries the story of Leila Alikarami, “avocate iranienne et défenseuse des droits humains, a représenté plus de 50 femmes devant les juges religieux des tribunaux révolutionnaires”.
Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders and their awards 